But organisations are held back from sharing more information due to possible employee reactions
LONDON, October 13th, 2022 - 86% of organisations say they’ve increased communication around pay programs because it’s part of their company values and culture. While other factors such as confidence in pay programmes (79%) and employee expectations (77%) have also driven companies to become more open around the topic of pay.
Increasing regulatory requirements and ESG agendas are also leading companies to become more transparent around pay, as 72% of companies attribute the rise to regulations and 51% due to ESG.
But many organisations are apprehensive to share more information around pay, as 59% of companies fear possible employee reactions. In addition, more than a third of companies (38%) have legal concerns about oversharing pay information, while almost a quarter (23%) hold back due to administrative complexity.
Yet, organisations that have decided to disclose pay rates (in line with new US regulations) are seeing less negotiation (57%) and fewer questions (50%) on pay from prospective employees. However, more than half of companies (57%) have noted that it is resulting in more questions from existing employees.
Most European companies are already communicating or plan to communicate job levels (87%), variable pay opportunities (68%) and how base pay is determined (59%). This is predominantly communicated via management, while 64% of companies are using webinars or HR portals (56%) to share this information.
While, three in ten organisations across Europe (31%) are currently disclosing the adjusted pay gap locally, with a similar percentage planning to do so in the future (31%). Yet two thirds of companies (68%) are only sharing data that is required by local regulation. And when it comes to global organisations, almost all (95%) are planning to provide a narrative on their approach to managing pay equity.
“Employees’ expectations are growing, they expect transparency and actions that align with the values that are being communicated.”
Eva Jesmiatka | Europe Lead on Pay and Career Equity, WTW
Eva Jesmiatka, Europe Lead on Pay and Career Equity at WTW, said: “With North America announcing new regulations around disclosing pay range information to prospective employees and with European companies doing more to share their fair pay ambitions, it’s likely that openness around pay will only accelerate.
“Employees’ expectations are growing, they expect transparency and actions that align with the values that are being communicated, which is why openness around topics such as pay and career equity are becoming increasingly important.”
WTW’s 2022 Pay Clarity Survey was conducted in August 2022. In Europe, a total of 63 organisations completed the survey.
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